03:59 am - What's that done to the graph?Here's a graph showing you what the "vertical line" problems I'm having on my computer look like at the moment. Incidentally, the graph was produced in Excel, then I did alt-PrintScreen to grab it, dumped it in Paint and saved it as a .jpg. If this helps diagnose exactly where the problems lie then so much the better.

Incidentally, if you can work out what sort of Too Much Information the graph represents, feel free to post a smug note, but keep it to yourself. Especially you, addedentry, zorac and huskyteer who might be able to guess. You should too, lnr - you definitely should.

I'm guessing...

No, not about *that*. Whatever it is, you've obviously had (or lost) plenty of it this year, but that's not important right now.

My perception skills aren't up to working out what picture you've shown me every 64th column of here, but I like the general colour scheme. Blues and pinks - very nice. I'd hazard that you might have a loose internal connection betwen your motherboard and video card, but I'm really no expert. I *think* the fact that your Print Screen output shows the problem rules out the issue being between video card and monitor though.

You either know it or you don't

What sort of number starts at 100 when you're born and tends only to go downwards, rather more than usual at about the time you hit puberty and rather more than usual at the time when you go to university, and a year in which it goes down five (more than any other year to date, I note) might be said to be particularly good?

If you don't know, then this shall have to forever remain just a pretty graph which illustrates the knackeredness of my system. If you do, then you'll see why following the descent downwards over time may be more information than you needed or even cared to know. Perhaps it's a cultural thing.

Re: You either know it or you don't

Re: You either know it or you don't

Betcha I'm more confused than you are, rialtus. This graph is right up there with the ancient riddle What has no legs in the morning, no legs in the afternoon, and four legs in the evening, the answer being... well, I'll not say just now, but you'll kick either yourself or me when I do explain.

I definitely think it's indicating a problem with the VGA card though. Overheating is another possibility to go alongside a wobbly connector, but I'd expect other symptoms if that were the case.

Re: You either know it or you don't

Not giving any clues about the graph. There is enough information there already to be able to work it out. The meme is bound to come round again at some point in the future - it seems to do so every couple of years or so - and then I'll be able to point to the graph. And people will go "Oh my God", for drawing a graph of the, er, function over time is not typical behaviour.

Riddle: is it someone who gets leglessly drunk in an all-day drinking session and then can't stand up to walk home once the pub closes?

The VGA card is my chief suspect, too. Not sure whether it's the VGA card itself or the VGA driver. At the moment, my rough plan of attack is:

1) Back up lots of things just in case2) Try the monitor from the old computer3) Try deinstalling the video driver4) Try reinstalling the video driver

If that doesn't work then I might start fiddling around with hardware - but I hope the hardware is OK because I like my VGA card which cost a fair amount of money some time ago (due to the video-recorder input/output facilities) and would not really want to have to go back to the old one.

Thanks!

Thanks. It's working perfectly at the moment - happily, it started working perfectly just before the second semi-final of "Robot Wars" at 6:45pm and has been fine for about two and a half hours since. Fingers crossed that it continues at least as long as Late Night Poker tonight.

I haven't got a clue what to do about it. If it's a hardware problem then reinstalling the drivers won't do anythning to help. (Will it?)

Would opening the computer up, giving a gentle blow-round inside, removing dust, checking connections and so forth be worthwhile? If it is a hardware problem, I can't think of anything else to do that wouldn't involve replacing the card. (Happily, I didn't throw away the old one which came with the computer.)

Re: Thanks!

The problem came back a little later tonight and again it came at a time when I moved my chair relative to the table. It solved itself again less than a minute later, so I suspect it's really just a tiny wobbly thing. May well try a different monitor (we have one from an old computer downstairs) just to check that the monitor is OK and that it's the VGA card.

Not sure how confident I am, but I know I'm not particularly confident in any of the other shops around here.